1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to methods and systems for transforming, via a fastening mechanism, a compartment of material or fabric into varied shapes or configurations. More particularly, the present invention relates to a multi-track fastening device that, with a single pushing or pulling motion, connects two sides of material while simultaneously disconnecting two other sides of material.
2. Background Information
Countless devices contain fasteners, one popular type of which is a zipper. A typical zipper includes a track or chain having two rows of teeth that interlock with each other. A zipper slider is located on the track so that a user can pull on a pull tab on the zipper slider in order to move the slider up and down the track, thereby causing the zipper to zip open and closed as desired. Some zippers have a stop at one or both ends of the zipper to stop the zipper slider from moving off of the track. Some zippers are designed so that the zipper slider is never removed from the track; other zippers are designed to allow the zipper slider to be removed from one row of the track, thereby allowing the material attached to one row of teeth to be further separated from the material attached to the other row of teeth.
Multi-zippered devices are among the many devices that incorporate zipper technology. For example, one existing multi-zippered device includes three adjacent rows of zipper teeth, the central row of which has two opposing zipper sliders at opposite ends of the row. The user may thus choose to attach one of the adjacent rows to one of the zipper sliders so that the central row and the adjacent row can be zipped up to form a first zipper track. Alternatively, the user may choose to attach the other adjacent row of teeth via the opposing zipper slider so that this adjacent row and the central row can be zipped up to form a second zipper track. This multi-zippered device is used to vary the size or volume of (for example) a laundry bag, but is cumbersome to use.
Another multi-zippered device has two parallel zippers that lie on top of each other. The user can choose to use either of the zippers to zip up an article of clothing in which this zipper device is incorporated. For example, this multi-zippered device, when incorporated into a pair of pants, allows a person to choose to zip up either the first zipper or the second zipper, thereby effectively creating two alternative waist sizes of pants within a single pair of pants. Thus, this particular multi-zippered device can be useful in accommodating weight gain or loss by the person who wears the clothing, but is awkward to incorporate into clothing and is also awkward to use.
Yet another multi-zippered device has an exchange portal through which the ends of a pair of zipper teeth are inserted and through which each row of teeth are thereby exchanged and mated with another pair of zipper teeth. This device has an elongated extension at the end of the row of zipper teeth in order to facilitate the entry of the end of the row into a small slot in the exchange portal. This multi-zippered device is designed to attach a chemical jumpsuit to a chemical laboratory tent without exposing the insides of the jumpsuit or tent to the outside environment. As with many other multi-zippered devices, this multi-zippered device inconveniences the user because it requires him or her to manually align and insert the end of a row of zipper teeth into a small slot.
As can be seen from the examples above, known multi-zippered devices either have limited functionality and/or are complicated and unwieldy to use, thus contributing to the limited commercial success of many multi-zippered devices.